


Dawn

by Lyrishadow



Series: Counting the days [1]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27908581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrishadow/pseuds/Lyrishadow
Summary: For Piper there was no hope of getting free of the gangs, or free of the constant shuffling for power. She was second in charge, and she knew the risks involved, a dead-end street for someone like her who dreamed of the stars.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Series: Counting the days [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043658
Kudos: 1





	Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Piper Shepard's life story. I am pretty sure this should work with the lore of the ME universe, and that at this point it is clearly not my invention. As a gamer, it is more important to me that there is a story my mind can hook into than there is exciting gameplay. I love the story and I hope I can bring some of that love to the telling of my Shepard's story. In the end, we are all learning as we go, in that regard feedback is welcome :)

It was April 11, 2171, Piper Shepard had checked the newspaper at the stand in town to know the date was right. It was her birthday, so she was sitting on the roof of the Tenth St Red’s main house, eating a pineapple she had stolen from the grocer. Here in the streets, fresh food of any kind was a luxury. The Reds did make sure she had a roof for now but that was always at risk of change if she failed a job. Piper was exposed to all kinds of crime, and had done a fair number to rise in the ranks of the Reds, but the majority of what she did was hacking, and account fraud. The last thing she had done was to hack the codes to a not very secret warehouse where the Alliance stored weapons and mods.   
Piper sighed and climbed back down in the window she had climbed up out of. The sun was setting and work was about to begin. She had finished most of the fruit and took the rest downstairs to share. Their boss Zack was tall, and paper-thin like most of them, food was still scarce and they were always hungry; so Zack was happy to take the fruit Piper handed him. Piper was considered to be second to Zack, the only one who could question him without retribution.  
“Nice one Piper." Zack waved the sliced fruit gratefully "I need you to do another warehouse run.”  
"Zack, what are we planning with all that shit?" Piper asked him"who are we fighting?"  
"We are expanding, I've got my eye on the blues territory, and then we will take the fight to those turian guys."  
"Wars over Zack has been for many years." Piper rolled her eyes, she had never even seen a turian, did not understand why everyone seemed to hate them twenty years after peace was brokered. She ignored the anti-alien sentiment her boss had, there were no aliens around anyhow.  
“Oh yeah, Piper, Happy birthday." He nodded at the paper on the table - it was stolen, of course, one of the kids most likely, everyone tried to earn favor from the boss.

Zack switched to operation mode as one of the younger kids came in. The kid’s clothes were tattered, telling Piper they lived in the basement of the other house. In the Reds you worked your way up, theHemen re were houses, the one the kid came from was closer to the enemy, hit with drive-by shootings more frequently, or the odd grenade launched through a window; it was also a poorer neighbourhood. While this house was where called the Red house, it was where the leaders lived and was in a richer neighbourhood, with better targets, and located closer to the Alliance base. The thing most people didn't know was that an empty house could be 'owned' if you chose to squat there for more than three years. They had eight houses in total. Piper, their official hacker was one of the chosen few to share the better Red house, the others were Finch, gun expert, Macky who drove their cars, Thersa,biotics expert and Lucy, who was a master thief. The Reds had a strict hierarchy and had for a few generations. Piper was meant to be second, smart, and knew how to handle herself. She was smart enough to not trust anyone, she kept the door to her room locked at all times.

"Zack, the blues did a driveby “ the kid delivered the news, he had a spot of blood on his shirt “They got some of the younger kids, three of them, Tor, Mac, and Vy..”  
“Where?”  
“The Hemens house. It’s locked down.” the kid was out of breath “Corbett and the rest are on their way here.”  
“Shit. Piper, you still need to get to the warehouse with Finch... Where the hell is that no-hoper?”  
“Boss, want me to get him?” The kid hopped from foot to foot, knowing that every little task they did would endear them to their leader, and that kept them alive. Food was given according to how well you did your job, fail at it for any reason and you went hungry or worse.

“Sure. Run.” Zack looked after the kid then turned to Piper “Without the bullshit, Piper, if we don’t beat back the blues, and we don't hold ground we lose our momentum, I want to expand, but they are making that hard. I don’t know who their boss is - he seems to have it in for me personally.”  
“Maybe… pissed anyone off lately?”  
“You realize that is half the city?” Zack laughed “I dunno.”  
Corbett arrived before their conversation had any answers. He was followed by a ragtag collection of kids of varying ages, who went straight out the back of the house and down into a hidden basement, it was set up with bunks for emergencies.  
“Corbett, what the hell happened? Why were the kids outside?”  
“Dunno,” Corbett said looking at the floor.  
“You selling sand again?” Zack turned on the man “You know we can’t do that so close to where we live.”  
“Just a little, man those three kids were good at it - and the money was worth it.” Corbett replied, “Besides, it’s not where you live.”  
“No, but if you get the cops, or hell the Alliance, sniffing around any of our bases you will make things so much worse. So sell it by all means, but try over in Redmond Grove or one of those places.” Zack was clearly angry.  
“What? Redmond Grove is blues territory, they’ve been selling red sand there for eons.” Corbett replied stunned at the idea.  
“So? We are taking over. Those kids might as well be killed in blues territory, at least then the police will be sniffing there instead of forcing us to lock one of our houses down.”  
“Mary is on the door, if they knock she will tell them it’s a halfway house.” Corbett replied dismissively “It’s fine, we will be just fine.”  
“Not if the blues move in we won’t. Plus you got the next good group killed, what do we do without those three kids huh?”

Piper moved off to the kitchen, to make a mug of coffee for Zack, she knew he was about to ask for it, he always had coffee when he was mad. The kid bounced back in, information obtained, his cheeks flushed from running.  
“Where is Finch?” Zack asked the runner.  
“On his way, he … stole a bike.” The kid was only telling what was happening, but Zack swung anyhow, knocking him to the ground. “Why can’t anyone listen when I tell them not to cause trouble?”   
Piper placed the coffee on the table in front of him and helped the kid to his feet.   
“Not the kid’s fault Zack.” she shook her head turning to the kid she said “what's your name?"  
"Curt Wiesman." He whispered as she got to him to his feet.  
"Sorry kid.” Zack actually looked apologetic but he turned back to Corbett and the simmering violent anger was back “I am trying to build us into a bigger deal than petty shit, but your job is to supervise the kids in small things not selling red sand in front of our house.”  
“Whatever.” Corbett shrugged “It’s done now.”  
“ Last time Corbett, next time you can find out why we are called Reds.”   
Piper didn’t agree with using the kids for these things but she had grown up in the Red’s system and knew how it worked. She grabbed an apple from the fridge and tossed it to the kid who took it, nodded, and ran off to eat it somewhere away from the rest.   
The door slammed as Finch entered from the other direction.  
“Baaaaaaby!” he yelled excitedly “Have I got a story for…”  
“Shut it.” Zack looked at Finch with anger still burning for stealing another bike. “You are back to petty theft.”  
“Not petty, it’s a beautiful motorbike.”  
“Finch…” Piper tried to warn him but Zack was on his feet before she could. He stopped inches from Finch's face, his fist balled. Just what they would need before a raid.  
“Zack! We have a raid.” Piper had to yell.  
“You are lucky Finch, and you better do a good job tonight,” Zack swore at him.  
“Alright, so I missed something, I take it?” Finch laughed and sat down.  
“Blues did a drive-by, got three of our kids.” Piper offered as he slouched into a seat at the table.  
“I see. Corbett? Red-sand again?” Finch raised an eyebrow when Corbett shrugged.  
“We don’t have time Finch, because you are late. We need to get to the warehouse.” Piper sighed, she hated doing these jobs with Finch, he was cocky and slow to react to changes in plans.   
“Well fine, let’s go Pips, you got the codes?”  
Piper shrugged, she had stolen enough money to get a decent omni-tool now, as well as an amp that didn’t hurt her ears. Finch was a straight-up shooter, he was good with guns, all kinds for that matter.   
“Time to go.” Zack said, “Try to get back here after you two.”  
That was the best Piper got at a ‘be safe’ she knew the risks though and she shrugged, the warehouse was still on the police route, and the risk of being caught by them was higher than the alliance, provided they didn’t trip the alarms.  
“We got a car coming?” Finch said to Zack who nodded.  
“Wait, I told you not to steal that much at one go, it will trigger the alarms.” Piper gasped.  
“We can escape in the car too, don’t worry Pips, I got you,” Finch smirked and Piper wanted to punch him.

The night sky was not visible from where they were, the megacity overshone everything. Some nights, sitting on the roof Piper liked to imagine there was more out there than trying to survive day to day, but tonight she had to focus on her job.   
“Stop trying to get ahead of me.” Piper hissed “I am turning off street cameras.  
"Don’t need to worry.” Finch replied laughing at her “It’s not like they will catch us.”  
“Finch c’mon do this properly.”   
“Just unlock the door, Princess.” Finch scowled at her, he hated being called to task.  
Piper ignored his tone and got to work with the codes, a few minutes later the warehouse’ back door was open.   
“Don’t know why they put back doors in,” Finch muttered, shifting when he saw the sky car drop down to park near them. “Ours?”  
“Yeah, careful,.”Piper replied trying to keep up with him “Take it slow or you will trigger the alarms.”   
“So you said, a thousand times.” Finch sighed “Just try to turn them off okay?”  
Piper grunted because she was doing just that, crouched near the door with the warehouse to her back. Running scans and trying to keep the alarms from triggering.  
She watched Finch go between the car and the warehouse five times, turned off an alarm, and he got another five in.  
“Stop.” she said “Something changed in my parameters and I need to know what.”  
“Hurry up. I don’t want to be here all night.”   
A sound in the warehouse warned her someone else was there.  
"We need to go look." She hissed " screw this up and Zack will kill you. Piss me off again and I will."   
Piper slipped into the warehouse, followed closely by Finch, trying to find the source of her scans, and figure out who else was there.   
"Boo!" Finch said when she was in the middle of the room. Sbe jumped, scared of course.  
"Idiot." She hissed.  
They were almost to the front door when a bright light hit their faces.  
"Shit." Finch declared drawing his pistol and shooting.  
"Run don't.." suddenly finding herself in a firefight Piper threw up a bubble of dark energy, she used it mostly for defense, it gave her a headache. When Finch's pistol over-heated he ran for the door, Piper slipped back into the shadows, she could see Alliance marines in front of them, headed by a man in N7 armor, they were in deep trouble. She made it to the door as Finch fired wildly, hitting her in the leg. He fired at her again, clipping the side of her head. She tried to move forward, but found herself slowed down and dizzy. Was Finch trying to kill her?  
"What the hell…" Piper didn't finish as the car took off.   
The Alliance were still coming so Piper limped back around the corner and dropped down to a dark lower alley. She was still bleeding, which wasn't good, and her small supply of stolen medigel had run out on the last mission. She knew she was in trouble in more ways than one.  
"Damn it." She muttered as passed out.

When she woke up, it was to the beeping of a machine. She had no idea where she was or how she got there. A man stood by the window, dressed in Alliance uniform, and suddenly Piper knew how she got there. Looking for her omni-tool and not finding it, she started to try and move when pain shot through her leg.  
"Shit." Shesaid involuntarily causing the man to turn and look at her.  
"Well you are finally awake." He moved closer and she saw the N7 logo.  
"Yeah." Piper waited, and wondered if she was going to prison, or just back to juvenile detention.  
"I take it from your fancy omnitool, and the fact you opened a highly secure door, that you are a hacker?" The man smiled  
"Maybe I'm a hacker." Piper wondered if she could just claim to be a passerby. She folded her arms "It depends, who is asking?"  
"My name is David Anderson,but you're welcome to just call me Anderson for now."  
"Shepard." She replied, if he was going to use last names then so was she.  
"Shepard, Piper; runaway from 5 foster homes one of which you were six years old, petty thievery charges 10, served 2years in juvenile correction, suspect in 6 fraud crimes, nothing proven, suspect in 25 hacking situations from credit terminals to a stores kiosk, i am guessing you got your omni-tool that way. You have some records here for fighting your way out of things, you have two accessory to murder charges, oh and one suspect of murder but it was not proven..you excel at stealth recovery, you're quick on your feet, you think fast and generlly cover your bases and you are a biotic." he looked at her directly "Did I miss anything?"  
"Not sure you can call running with an idiot accessory to murder, but you should also know guy who happen to die when I was in their home was a violent drunk who beat his wife and kids."  
"That idiot, the same person who shot you?" The man asked.  
"Um." Piper sighed "yeah."  
"You do know you are in a lot of trouble don't you?"  
"Yes I have a fair idea you didn't catch the others.."   
"Lucky you are still a juvenile." He paused, "I have an offer for you Piper. "   
"What?" She was resigned to her fate, the Reds would have shoved her under the bus anyhow.  
"I know that you are 17, technically you have a year before you can enlist, but you can have the age requirement waived, and enlist as a marine."  
"What?" Piper was genuinely surprised.  
"You caught our attention when you hacked the warehouse." Anderson replied  
"What's the catch?" Piper knew that there would be one, he was offering her a way out, a way to be free completely.  
"Catch?"  
"Yeah. Usually to get a deal you want information."  
"I see. That is how you only got 2 years." He smiled to himself "You understand the value of information."  
"Of course, I worked with data." She sighed "So what is it you want to know?"  
"Just like that, you would betray them?"  
"Didn't say it would be the truth." Piper replied "or the whole truth."  
"I'm not a police officer Piper, and we were targeting you." He replied and waited as the shock registered "Though i can always pass along information, plus your friends have guns with tracking chips in them."  
"What? But I scanned those thoroughly…"  
"We do have our own hackers. " The man sat down, suddenly very serious "there is one more matter."   
"Ah, here it is."  
"You're biotics. The operation to install an implant was done off the books. We are going to have to check it. Tell me do you get side effects?"  
"Like?"  
"Headaches, mood swings, depressive thoughts,..."   
"My gang found out I was biotic when I was 11. I have probably had a migraine every time I used my abilities. I thought that was normal." It was why she didn't rely on it to get her through a fight. "So i don't get what you are saying."   
"It isn't normal." He shook his head, looking at her in wonder mixed with pity "You have been through a lot just to survive. Do you want more than gang life?"  
"I…" Piper didn't want to fight over scraps, or streets or steal things to get by. "I want to see the stars."  
"You need to stay here in the hospital while we sort out the implant." Anderson replied "Then we will get you to basic training and see what you can do."  
"Won't that kill me the implant thing i mean?"  
"No these doctors are the best at this." A half truth, his expression told her.  
"Ok. Do I get my omnitool back?"  
"Not until we look at it." Anderson replied amused " You modded that thing to helll. Also you will also be under guard."  
"So I am arrested then." Figures.  
"No, Shepard, you are protected." He was frowning then " didn't your gang protect you at least?"  
"No." Piper stared at him " I was second, but…"  
" You won't have to fight for food, or a bed, the Alliance is very good to its people." Anderson assured her.  
"I just have to sign on?" She replied still sceptical. "Nothing else but agree?"  
"Yes, all you need to do is agree." Anderson chuckled "I see you are still looking for a catch."  
"If there is no catch, then, I agree."   
"I think you and I will be friends Shepard, welcome to the Alliance Military." Anderson saluted her and left her to contemplate her decision.

David Anderson walked out of the hospital room with a half smile, stopping in the hall to talk to the soldier on guard.  
"Did you tell her this is a military hospital, and she is in the middle of a military base?"  
"Of course not." He paused " It's important she makes her own choice, if she does run, they wont let her out the gate. Keep an eye on her, and no visitors, I don't imagine they will but her gang may try to kill her."  
"Aye aye Sir." A salute and the soldier stood at rest outside her door. She was at least safe for now. The doctor was waiting with his report next, Anderson listened as what he feared to be true was revealed.  
"She is malnourished, under-weight, and it is as we feared Sir, she has a badly fitted L2."   
The biotic amp interface was wired directly into the person's physiology, the nervous system developed nodes which allowed the biotic to manipulate mass effect fields. Anderson had seen Piper used it in the small scuffle at the warehouse.  
"Can you help her?"  
"Yes, she will spike high even on an L3." The doctor replied, "we can fit it and repair the damage."  
"Good." Anderson replied looking at the girl “Any idea on who her parents are?”  
“None sir, nothing in our system. Looks like she entered the foster system very young .” The doctor shook his head “Honestly, I have never seen someone like her, we get very sheltered here working on soldiers only, but I guess that's something we can change, maybe start a free clinic for people like her.”  
“It’s a good idea.” Anderson nodded, wondering how many people would be helped just with free medical. "Be worth it as an outreach."

The surgery came with a new hairstyle, one she kept after six weeks in bed. Piper didn't really mind that it gave her a more military look. She didn't try to run from the hospital either, she drank very little alcohol, and loathed the use of red sand so she had no vices to get rid of. She did ask if she could have access to a gym which they approved as long as she could be supervised. They had someone work with her on the biotics as well, a soldier who trained her and simply told her she would get better with time and practice.. Piper for her part had no desire to go back to figuring out life in a gang. If this was her chance she wanted to take it.   
"Am l ready?" She asked the soldier who was supervising her in the gym.  
"For basic?" He nodded "you will blow them out of the water."  
"That may be a bad thing, I don't want to stand out." She sighed "As long as i didn't leave one gang to join another."  
"No, might seem like it in places but the Alliance has nobler goals."  
"Than dominating the streets? I hope so." Piper replied humorlessly.  
"You know Piper you are incredibly well-spoken for a …"  
"Street kid?" She finished for him this time cracking a grin “Yeah I went to school off my own motivation though, studied… all that stuff; I like learning.. “  
“I see.” The soldier nodded “Alright one more run on the treadmill and then I have to get you back to your room.”  
“Early?”  
"Well I.." he shrugged "I was told to have you there."  
"It's fine.” She took a deep breath, maybe they were ready to let her out of the hospital.

Piper had read those books where there was a military hero going through basic while she recovered, the books made it look easy. Years of towing the group line in a gang had made her able to put herself aside for the greater cause. While the Alliance was not as cruel or undermining as growing up on the street, Piper managed to use a lot of what her former life had given her. Maybe even start to see it as an advantage over those who were raised in the country or in colonies. While others struggled, she soon found herself the voice of reasonable direction.  
At the end of the first block of training, she had the best proficiency scores out of her group. She accepted the rules and reasonings of military life, she was now known as Shepard, and Piper the street kid ceased to exist. She was just one of many, well paid, well fed, and hard-working soldiers who protected the planet from any harm that came it's way.


End file.
